Perks
by Strawberry'd
Summary: Valentine's one shot- LJ - Their first Valentine's together and all James gives to Lily is a single rose. But that rose is very special indeed.


**Disclaimer: **Roses are red; violets are not, uhm… Well, the bottom line is that I don't own Harry Potter. There, you happy?

Late Valentine's one shot, dedicated to **Keeper of Yoh**. Here you go, Keiko-chii! Short and sweet.

**Perks  
**Strawberry Promises  
Lily x James  
**Valentine's One Shot**

-

There was nothing wrong with Valentine's. Nope, not a single thing. Unless you count the owls that came flocking to Lily Evan's window precisely at 8:00 AM delivering a large bouquet of roses from one secret admirer who was never that secret.

And every year, Lily Evans would take the roses into her arms, shoo the owls away and promptly dump them out of the window.

But this year, it was different. This Valentine's was quite different, because said secret-not-very-secret admirer was no admirer. He was her boyfriend.

This year, on one February 14th, 7:30 AM, Lily Evans awoke and sat near her window, waiting for the roses that this year, she could keep and cherish instead of seeing them sprawled against a not-too-flattering brown-green background.

To her dismay, not only were the owls, correction: _owl_, late, but it only carried a single rose, not the huge bouquet James had sent Lily every year before.

Surely, _surely_, now that they were a couple he should have given her something larger and grander than just a bouquet of roses, right? But Lily was graciously going to accept just that measly bouquet of roses.

And here she was, holding a single rose, one that still had thorns on it!

Curiously, though, the thorns didn't hurt.

But Lily dismissed that from her mind as she started at the red, red rose. She shrugged and told herself that anything from James would be grand indeed.

She picked the rose up from her bed where it landed and twirled it in her fingers.

She retrieved a vase and filled it with cold water. She lifted the rose to her nose and smelled its gentle fragrance. Then, smiling slightly let it sink into the water.

To her shock and dismay, the rose wilted instantly. A petal flew off and landed on the floor.

Frowning, Lily picked it up and watched as one by one, the rose petals fell.

Rubbing the petal in her hand slightly, she felt a slight tingling in her fingers.

Her eyebrows raised, Lily examined the petal. Suddenly, words appeared the rim of the petal in a loopy handwriting that Lily saw was James'. She read the words slowly.

"Good morning, Lily."

A smile appeared on her face. She picked up another rose petal.

"How are you?"

She picked up another and another.

"Good day, isn't it?"

"I'll see you at breakfast, right?"

"Do you want to skip Charms? Please?"

She got to the last one. Her spirit's lifted greatly but she was saddened to see the rose come to an end.

"Happy Valentine's, Lily."

-

The next day, Lily, after going to see her boyfriend the day before to greet him with a very long kiss indeed, woke up to find the rose petals she had gathered up to keep forever, were gone.

Where could they have gone? She looked frantically and finally found them, all stuck back together on the stem… forming a perfect rose.

Lily was perplexed. She had seen with her own two eyes the petals fall off. She remembered putting them into a bag…

But here they were, making a rose…

She placed it into the water again, hoping that maybe this time, it would be able to stay together and she could show it off but, knowing James…

Her suspicions were correct. The rose immediately began to fall apart.

Laughing, Lily scooped up the petals and laid them on her bed. She picked a random petal and read it, a large smile on her face.

"Happy day-after-Valentine's day, Lily."

"How 'bout we skip Charms again?"

She laughed at that one.

"I love you."

"What are we having for breakfast, do you know?"

"I love you."

"What colour socks should I wear today?"

"Did I mention that I love you?"

She hugged the petals to her as tightly as she could without ruining them.

James was so sweet.

Lily woke up the next day to a fully blossomed rose.

She plucked it up and placed it under her nose.

There were perks to having your boyfriend a wizard.

-

There, finished! How was it? Good, no? I hope Keiko onee-chan liked it, even though she doesn't really like HP, lol oh well.

Uhmm… a little late for Valentines, but whatever.

Hope you liked it and please review!


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